Stories Untold: College Preparation Through the Experiences of High Achieving Students

By Stacey Price Brown, Ph.D.

The challenges that face African American students seeking a higher education are well documented, but high-performing and gifted students continue to succeed in going to college and thriving once they arrive there. In this study, author Stacey Price Brown, PhD, looks at the educational experience through the eyes of a selection of these students. For them, the college planning process begins in early childhood, and it does not end until high school graduation.

Through these students’ stories, Brown offers practical recommendations on how to create a culture that promotes the value of higher education. Learn how to help students

develop competitive college applications;
gain admittance to the college of their choice;
set high expectations for themselves; and
leverage supportive environments.

Designed to help students, parents, and educators, Stories Untold presents the journeys of talented students who have navigated the curves in the long road that leads to college.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Aug 26, 2014
• ISBN: 9781483412016

Book preview

Stories Untold

COLLEGE PREPARATION THROUGH THE EXPERIENCES

OF HIGH-ACHIEVING STUDENTS

Stacey Price Brown, Ph.D.

Copyright © 2014 Stacey Brown.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-1200-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-1201-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014908258

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 08/13/2014

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgementsi

Introduction

Overview: High-Achieving, Middle-Class, African American Students

Meet the High-Achievers

Starting Early: College Was an Expectation, Not an Option

High School Experiences: Achieving Self-Advocacy

Teacher and Guidance Counselor Experiences: Supportive and Unsupportive Relationships

Peer Experiences: Supportive and Unsupportive Peer Relationships

Beyond High School Classroom Experiences: Extracurricular and Experiential Learning Opportunities

Community Experiences: Spiritual, Business, Work, and Volunteer Opportunities

Family Experiences: Supportive and Unsupportive Relationships

College Decision-Making Experiences: The Time is Here

Implications for Practice

Recommendations for Further Research

Postface: Where Are the High-Achievers Today?

References

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my daughter, Alexandria, my son, Tommy, and my husband, Thomas.

I thank God for blessing me with two healthy, wonderful children. Continue to work hard in school, stay focused, and strive to be everything that you want to be.

To my husband, thank you for your continued support and vision throughout the entire writing process of this book.

I love all of you so much!

Preface

Reflecting on the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, the 100th anniversaries of the Women’s Suffrage March, and the founding of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated (my sorority), the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King’s "I Have a Dream speech, and the second term of the first African American President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama, this book is a testimony of, is a product of, the many individuals who dedicated their lives, shed blood, and laid down their lives fighting for equality to overcome injustice, oppression, and discrimination. These monumental historical moments paved the way for many high-achievers, men and women, fortunate and less fortunate, marginalized and privileged, African Americans, and other people of color, to recognize that GETTING AN EDUCATION, a COLLEGE EDUCATION, is the impetus that motivates individuals to improve their own lives, as well as the lives of their entire communities.

As I think about my history, and the hundreds of years my ancestors were denied the freedom to read and write, clearly these fearless, visionary, and open-minded enslaved people learned quickly that one of the only ways to strip one’s self from the bondage of slavery as well as an enslaved mentality was to get an education. Even though many were denied the right to read and write, they did not allow the cruel acts of others and discriminatory laws of Jim Crow to stop them from achieving their dreams and investing in their futures to gain a return on their investment for their futures.

This book is so near and dear to me because I, like these college students in the study, was a high-achieving, middle-class, African American student who invested in my future by working hard in my classes at West Charlotte Senior High School in Charlotte, North Carolina (one of the first all-Black high schools in the state to be integrated in the 70s) and being involved in many extracurricular activities to ensure I was accepted into and prepared for college. Without a doubt, I believe the college students in this study (this book is a translation of my dissertation into a family friendly book on college preparation) who attend Burroughs University (pseudonym) are a return on their ancestor’s investment. (Burroughs was chosen as a suitable pseudonym to pay tribute to an African American female trailblazer, Nannie Helen Burroughs, who we may refer to as a modern day social entrepreneur, who resided in and built a school, The National Training School for Women and Girls in the early 1900s in Washington, DC. This school was developed to improve the lives of Black females in the Deanwood community, a northeast neighborhood in Ward 7 in Washington, DC and a community in which I have lived in and spent lots of time over the past 30 years.)

The seeds that these students’ ancestors sowed and nourished for many years while enslaved, can be heard and felt through the evocative storytelling and narratives that these high-achieving, middle-class, African American college students share about their college planning process. Storytelling is a powerful tool to enter into the lives and the personal spaces of individuals as they expose their journeys taken to prepare for a higher education. Interwoven throughout their stories we learn about the experiences and influences of family members, teachers and guidance counselors, the college preparatory curriculum, peers, community members, extracurricular activities, and finances had on the preparation process.

The question that you may be pondering as you enter into the lives of these students is if these students have high-ability, money, and support systems at their fingertips, then why write about a group of students who seem from the description and their identities: privileged, successful, and do not seem to face adversity. The truth is, this group has traditionally been overlooked and their voices have even been ignored, but they are one of the fastest growing groups on our college campuses who experience successes as well as challenges just as any other group planning for a higher education.

By paying closer attention to their lived experiences, you will learn through their personal stories the journey that they take to plan for college. These students possess some of the same qualities: determination, patience, faith, resilience, power, and confidence, that their ancestors exhibited when forced to travel many miles by sea tightly packed in unventilated boats to build their new home, our new home, in the United States of America. As these college students think about their college preparatory experiences in elementary, middle, and high school, the reader is enlightened to learn that even though they are high-achieving, middle-class, and African American, their backgrounds are still different and unique, and the characteristics that bind them together as one powerful voice is: their aspirations to go to college, to be successful in college, and to pursue a thriving career in a democratic global society.

As stated previously, the larger study (my dissertation), has been translated into this ‘family friendly book on college planning’ and is essential to learning more about how to embrace voices that have been traditionally ignored and even overlooked. Additionally, this book strives to advance a paradigm shift for higher education administrators, faculty, and staff as they develop and implement policies, practices, and programs to build more diverse and inclusive campuses for all African American students, not just one segment of the African American student population. So, why have we dismissed these voices in the past and why do we continue to dismiss these voices today? The answer may be foggy to some, while clearer to others. Society has focused on adopting a more deficit mindset for how African Americans are viewed in education, while dismissing the assets and surpluses that this group of students brings into the educational environment.

As you spend quality time with these college students who attend the same university, however, are from various parts of the country, you will be introduced to the topic through historical court cases and statistics on the African American student matriculating to college. In the first chapter, there will be an overview on high-achieving, middle-class, African American students. In the second chapter you will meet the high-achievers in the study. In the third chapter you will learn what life was like for these young people in the elementary and middle school grades, and in the fourth chapter you will be consumed by the assertive and conscious decisions that these students make to advocate for themselves so that they were prepared and successful in high school. In the fifth chapter, teacher and guidance counselor influences are brought to the forefront and in the sixth chapter the students will bring to light what their relationships were like with their peers as they prepared for college. In the seventh chapter, I will share the many outside the classroom unique experiences that these students participated in to develop leadership skills and a strong work ethic, followed by the eighth chapter, the focus will be on community influences. In the ninth chapter, I will share how families played a role in helping their loved ones to reach their college goals. In the tenth chapter, students describe what it was like to make the final decision to choose the ‘right college.’ Each of these chapters concludes with Creating a College-Going Culture to summarize important information that the students share helped them to prepare for college as well as other tips that helped me to be successful as a high school student through achieving a terminal degree. In the eleventh and twelfth chapters, implications for practice and recommendations for future research are offered for higher education and student affairs administrators, high school administrators, teachers, guidance counselors, families, and communities. Following the final chapter, a brief postface is shared on where the high-achievers in this book are today.

Stacey Brown, Ph.D.

Acknowledgements

First thank you to God who made my vision of a book become more than a dream, but a legacy that I could leave my family and my community for a lifetime. Thank you to my children, Alexandria and Tommy, who inspired me to ‘hurry up’ and finish my book. A huge thank you to my husband, Thomas, who is a visionary and who always sees the finished picture before the picture is even taken and revealed to me. I want to thank my parents, Moma and Daddy, who from the very beginning of my life nurtured and valued getting a higher education. Like many of the students’ families in this book, they never stopped encouraging me to get good grades, have good conduct (as it was called in my day) and to do my best, while NEVER letting me settle for a ‘C’ on an assignment. College was stressed as early as elementary school and I never imagined doing anything else after high school. Although they stressed getting a bachelor’s and master’s degree, I am not sure they imagined my striving for and achieving a doctorate degree. As the first person on both sides of my family to receive a Doctorate of Philosophy degree and to write a book, I thank Moma and Daddy for instilling in me the value of a higher education and a debt-free education because not only did it inspire my dissertation topic, but it has allowed me to leave a lasting legacy in the Price (Daddy) and Davis (Moma) families, and the Brown (Husband) family. I want to thank my sister, LaSheta, who is my best friend and who I probably talked to two and three times a day through most of the writing process. Dr. LaSheta David, who has opened her own business in Concord, NC and has inspired me not only to complete my PhD, but to put my dissertation into action by starting my own business helping other families to prepare for college. I would like to give a huge thank you to my editor, Dr. Adrienne Hamcke Wicker, who has been with me since my dissertation proposal. You have been very helpful and I look forward to working with you on future projects that have not been ‘birthed yet!’ Additionally, I want to thank University of Maryland student Juan Green who helped me to think about my college preparation image that is being used in my presentations to families and students. I also want to thank colleague Michelle Lopez-Mullins who designed the book cover and developed a college planning model that is used in this book. Thank you to Vincena Allen, Dr. Nakia Hardy, and my Auntie Marian for your comments on helping to make the book the best it could be.

Introduction

Since the 17th century when they were enslaved, African Americans have struggled for the right to be educated (Carter, 2001; Feagin, Vera, & Imani, 1996; Freeman, 2005). Even though African Americans did not have the same rights as White people they still used the resources that were available to learn to read and write (Anderson, 1988). In fact, in 1896, the United States (U.S.) Supreme Court passed the Plessy v. Ferguson decision. This decision enforced that Blacks were separate from and equal to that of Whites and that racial segregation (in public facilities) was legal and not against the U.S. Constitution. A decade later, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954) was a Supreme Court case that outlawed Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). Plessy v. Ferguson, which was the pillar of Jim Crow laws and practices was finally judged to be what it had been all along—unequal and racially oppressive (Bowser, 2007, p. 74). The Brown v. Board of Education case was a landmark desegregation case, which gave African Americans the opportunity to attend previously segregated White higher education institutions (Kinzie et al., 2004). However, even the winning of the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) court case did not lead to immediate desegregation or equality of educational opportunities (Carter, 2001).

Following these two court cases and under the leadership first of President Kennedy and then President Johnson, the Civil Rights